What episodes are you watching on "Here's Lucy"?

[JoeySanJoaquin]

...Plays Cops and Robbers (I'd remembered so little about this one! Another superior Bob & Madelyn contribution!)

...Catches Gold Fever

...and Chuck Connors Slumber Party

 

I noticed her wig in this handful of episodes -- and I can't put my finger quite on why -- is styled subtley but decidedly different, "softer" if you will (as is the color, seems toned down, lighter, not quite as "peach" (or apricot, per Irma!) and as a result, appears to soften her face and makes her seem at least to me, years younger.

 

I also never really noticed before -- especially in "Cops" where it happens repeatedly due to the plot -- how, for a by then 60+ year old, she "friskily" (is that a word?) skipped/ran across the stage to answer the front door in the scene, which happened in this episode at least 2 or 3 times or more; was this a late-in-the-run development of the character or I just never noticed before??

 

Regardless, it's fun to watch!

[Harrison]

"Lucy's Replacement"

 

One of my favorites but with this viewing I was kind of bored throughout. I don't know but for some reason I really haven't been in the mood with watching the Here's Lucy series. And this has been going on for awhile now. It's weird because it's just the opposite with I Love Lucy and especially The Lucy Show. I have had an ongoing craving for both of those series despite seeing some episodes multiple times. Oh well, this has happened with other favorites (such as Happy Days, I Dream of Jeannie, The Munsters, The Brady Bunch, etc.) in the past and I came back to them eventually.

[Harrison]

Put in disc four of season one last night. Watched the Gaboona episode, fell asleep during the Tennessee Ernie Ford musical one, and obviously missed plot-driven Driver License episode.

 

Loved the Gaboona episode the first time I seen it which was 18 years ago but now it does nothing for me. There's not much to the plot and it seems like just one sight gag after another.

[JoeySanJoaquin]

Put in disc four of season one last night. Watched the Gaboona episode, fell asleep during the Tennessee Ernie Ford musical one, and obviously missed plot-driven Driver License episode.

On purpose??!

[Harrison]

On purpose??!

 

Yes but for nostalgia purposes. lol

[JoeySanJoaquin]

Yes but for nostalgia purposes. lol

As a dear departed former colleague always used to say.... whatever blows your skirt up!

[Harrison]

As a dear departed former colleague always used to say.... whatever blows your skirt up!

 

Hmmm. If I had one ...

[Harrison]

(12/28/16)

 

Watched these waaaaay early this morning (and up and 'til I had to get ready to go to work):

 

"Lucy, the Matchmaker"

"Lucy and the Gold Rush"

"Lucy's Working Daughter"

"Lucy and Carol Burnett"

"Lucy Gets Her Man"

"Lucy and the Great Airport Chase"

"A Date For Lucy"

"Lucy, the Shopping Expert"

 

Guess you can say I had a marathon.

 

 

 

 

 

(12/29/16) - early evening:

 

"Lucy Runs the Rapids"

"Lucy and Harry's Tonsils"

 

Enjoyed both episodes but would have liked "Lucy Runs the Rapids" more if the writers of the episode didn't make Lucy out to be an idiot. And speaking of the episode, I noticed an inconsistency: when the gang landed ashore for the evening their raft was flat but the next day Harry, Kim, and Craig were using it to chase after the screaming Lucy. And Lucy was the reason why the raft was flat to begin with as she accidently poked a hole in it.

 

 

 

 

 

(12/30/16) - early morning:

 

"Lucy and Aladdin's Lamp"

 

This is one of the few episodes where both Desi Arnaz, Jr. and Mary Jane Croft appear together on Here's Lucy. Unfortunately, there is very little dialogue between them.

 

 

 

 

 

(1/1-2/17) - late evening/overnight:

 

"Lucy and the 20-20 Vision"

"Lucy's Vacation"

"Lucy and the Raffle"

"Lucy Goes Hawaiian" - Parts 1 & 2

 

 

 

 

 

(1/6/17) - overnight:

 

"Lucy Loses Her Cool"

"Lucy and Ma Parker" - fell asleep through it

[Neil]

I watched two on a whim:

"Lucy Carter Meets Lucille Ball" and

"Lucy Plays Cops and Robbers"

 

"Meets Lucy" is really a great HL episode.  So great you can overlook the plot holes.  Specifically "Miss Ball" is awfully accessible to anyone who comes calling, including Harry who fulfills his earlier threat that if she doesn't come back early enough, he'll "come looking for you", a rather contrived way to get Harry into the scene.  Also Miss Ball is extremely but rather unrealistically generous, giving Mrs. Carter a wig and gown to take with her.    

Lucy/Miss Ball tempting Harry with the fabulous door prize, intimated to be a steamy evening with Miss Ball herself makes me a little uncomfortable, but.....I love it.

I guess in 1974, having an "8-track tape player" in a car was quite the bonus.  I never had one nor understood what this "8-track" concept meant.  

Of the three, Kim is definitely a distant third in the Lucille Ball Lookalike contest.  It's no wonder she got "the runaround". 

So this contest is just a pause in the showing of a feature film?  So why is there an audience? 

 

"Cops and Robbers" is another 6th season highlight.  Though I wish they had gotten someone other than Gino as the burglar. I'm sure he was just doing it as he was instructed but he's a little too over-the-top for my taste.  Someone a little more realistically menacing would have been better.  I think the original choices for the cops were either the actual Adam 12 guys or the deadpan Dragnet duo (would have loved the latter).  I think the episode with Craig Stevens ("Dirty Gertie"?) was written for Jack Webb with all that "just the facts, ma'am" stuff.   One question: why would you have a lock on the OUTSIDE of a closet door?  

 

Lookalike contests: another in my long list of things I've seen on TV sitcoms but never in real life.  Along with:

 

-someone hanging up on you and immediately hearing a dial tone

-men who have "poker nights with the boys" on a regular basis-

-for that matter, playing poker and getting anything better than a pair (people on sitcoms always have a full house, straight, 4 of a kind or flush)

-women who have or desperately want mink coats

-People, after being told some perfectly audible news (usually over the phone) saying "What?"

-People saying "You can say THAT again" (although I have)

-telegrams (although I guess that was the ancient version of texting)

-a malt shop 

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[Freddie2]

My hometown has a malt shop- it's literally called "The Malt Shop" and yes, like anything else in Chesaning, its stereotypical small hoke. My regular is a Boston Cooler. Not a big ice cream fan.

 

Last week, I decided to put on "Where Is My Wandering Mother Tonight", another season six classic. Whenever I watch that one, I can't help but sit in the lotus position and roll around on the floor with my legs locked like an absolute idiot.

[JoeySanJoaquin]

My hometown has a malt shop- it's literally called "The Malt Shop" and yes, like anything else in Chesaning, its stereotypical small hoke. My regular is a Boston Cooler. Not a big ice cream fan.

 

Last week, I decided to put on "Where Is My Wandering Mother Tonight", another season six classic. Whenever I watch that one, I can't help but sit in the lotus position and roll around on the floor with my legs locked like an absolute idiot.

Thanks for the visual!

[Irene Kampen Tripp]

Hmm... I don't dare try the lotus position... Probably cut the circulation of my legs off

[JoeySanJoaquin]

Hmm... I don't dare try the lotus position... Probably cut the circulation of my legs off

[Neil]

Last week, I decided to put on "Where Is My Wandering Mother Tonight", another season six classic. Whenever I watch that one, I can't help but sit in the lotus position and roll around on the floor with my legs locked like an absolute idiot.

 

Interesting to me that of 144 episodes, 4 of my top ten Here's Lucy are among the last 8 episodes of the series, including the last 3!  And 7 of those 8 are above-average to stellar on the HL scale ( the exception:"Lucy the Sheriff).   From Jan. 21 to Mar. 18th, the last first run episodes in order were "#137: NG at RN""Sherrif", "Milton Berle: Life of Party" "MJ's Boyfriend", "Phil Harris", "Lucy Meets Lucy", "Wandering Mother" and "Fights the System". 

 

The lotus bit in "Wandering Mother" is even more remarkable considering her broken leg had happened only 2 years previously and a woman of 62 doesn't heal as fast as younger people.  Lucy thanks Onna White.  People write that Lucy lost a lot of her physical comedy ability because of the break, but I don't see it.  I think the lotus bit disproves that. 

 

In Fidelman's Lucy Book, Lucie Arnaz says the last episode they shot was the tepid "Meanwhile Back at the Office", which seems strange because Gale's last line in "Fights the System" was a wonderful way to end it.  By this time, Lucy was filming her shows well in advance, assured that CBS would pick up a full season.   In preparation for "Mame", all of the 5th season HL's were shot by November (don't remember where I read/heard that).   I saw "Franchise Fiasco" in early September and it did not air until February.

[Freddie2]

I *think* I read somewhere that even though Lucie said Meanwhile was last filmed, she was incorrect and it was Fights the System. Season six might be my favorite of the series- the bad episodes are bad, but the good ones are great. It has the energy a lot of shows get in their last seasons, where you can tell everyone is like "Well, we're wrapping things up, this is the last time we're going to do this, why not have fun?"

[Freddie2]

Hmm... I don't dare try the lotus position... Probably cut the circulation of my legs off

If you do it too long there's a definite circulation problem- I end up walking around like Dick Van Dyke!

[HarryCarter]

Interesting to me that of 144 episodes, 4 of my top ten Here's Lucy are among the last 8 episodes of the series, including the last 3!  And 7 of those 8 are above-average to stellar on the HL scale ( the exception:"Lucy the Sheriff).   From Jan. 21 to Mar. 18th, the last first run episodes in order were "#137: NG at RN""Sherrif", "Milton Berle: Life of Party" "MJ's Boyfriend", "Phil Harris", "Lucy Meets Lucy", "Wandering Mother" and "Fights the System". 

 

The lotus bit in "Wandering Mother" is even more remarkable considering her broken leg had happened only 2 years previously and a woman of 62 doesn't heal as fast as younger people.  Lucy thanks Onna White.  People write that Lucy lost a lot of her physical comedy ability because of the break, but I don't see it.  I think the lotus bit disproves that. 

 

In Fidelman's Lucy Book, Lucie Arnaz says the last episode they shot was the tepid "Meanwhile Back at the Office", which seems strange because Gale's last line in "Fights the System" was a wonderful way to end it.  By this time, Lucy was filming her shows well in advance, assured that CBS would pick up a full season.   In preparation for "Mame", all of the 5th season HL's were shot by November (don't remember where I read/heard that).   I saw "Franchise Fiasco" in early September and it did not air until February.

 

 

"Lucy Fights the System" was definitely the last episode filmed. I'm not sure why Lucie thought "Meanwhile, Back at the Office" was last, but that information got repeated. I think Here's Lucy's fifth season was completed by October 6, 1972. "Lucy and Harry's Memoirs" was filmed without an audience the day after "Lucy and Uncle Harry's Pot." The series wrap party was held after the filming of "Uncle Harry's Pot" and Lucy and Gary made an announcement: they would be coming back for a sixth season. Lucy said it was only if she lived through Mame, but Gary says it is definite. Lucy said six CBS men came to their house the night before and they made a deal for them to return for another year. Only four episodes of the season had aired by this point and the show was ranked about 12th in the weekly ratings. There was a big break between filming seasons five and six. I don't think they returned until late June or early July 1973. Lucy Fights the System was filmed on January 24 and aired on March 18. Both the last seasons of The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy ended up having their episodes filmed closer to their air dates than usual because of Lucy's movie commitments. 

[Neil]

Great info.  I can't figure out how you're "Mr. Knew-knew of 1972-2".  The 5th season definitely started out strong with 3 Bob and Madelyn episodes  that make my top 10.  "Big Break" "Eva Hospital Roomie" and my favorite of the 3 "Harrison Carter, Male Nurse".  The 4th: "Home is Not an Office" a Fox-Jacobs episode was come down from the first 3. 

Could there have been another series in TV history that finished its entire season output after only 4 of the shows had aired?

"Lucy Fights the System" was definitely the last episode filmed. I'm not sure why Lucie thought "Meanwhile, Back at the Office" was last, but that information got repeated. I think Here's Lucy's fifth season was completed by October 6, 1972. "Lucy and Harry's Memoirs" was filmed without an audience the day after "Lucy and Uncle Harry's Pot." The series wrap party was held after the filming of "Uncle Harry's Pot" and Lucy and Gary made an announcement: they would be coming back for a sixth season. Lucy said it was only if she lived through Mame, but Gary says it is definite. Lucy said six CBS men came to their house the night before and they made a deal for them to return for another year. Only four episodes of the season had aired by this point and the show was ranked about 12th in the weekly ratings. There was a big break between filming seasons five and six. I don't think they returned until late June or early July 1973. Lucy Fights the System was filmed on January 24 and aired on March 18. Both the last seasons of The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy ended up having their episodes filmed closer to their air dates than usual because of Lucy's movie commitments. 

[HarryCarter]

Could there have been another series in TV history that finished its entire season output after only 4 of the shows had aired?

For both the first and second seasons of The New Dick Van Dyke Show, all the season's episodes were completed before the season premiered. They had a three year commitment with CBS, so they weren't getting cancelled early either.

[LittleRickyII]

I *think* I read somewhere that even though Lucie said Meanwhile was last filmed, she was incorrect and it was Fights the System.

 

If "Meanwhile" was the last episode filmed, Lucie's hair sure did grow fast!  It was very, very short in "Lucy Fights the System," but very long in "Meanwhile, Back at the Office."

[Neil]

"Lucy and Airforce Academy 1 and 2"

 

I don't know where Cleo dug up this script-writer Gene Thompson for all the location shows, but he really let the Here's Lucy company down---not that the regular writers would have come up with something better.   This was the season 2 opener.  What's heartbreaking about watching these shows is that Lucy is still capable of so much more.  She mines whatever comedy can be gleaned from a laugh-less script, but she can't overcome that horrible stalled-elevator scene with Roy Roberts where she goes crazy.  

 

And maybe in 1969, security, or our knowledge of it,  wasn't as tight as it has become, but the idea that someone could just drive their camper on to the Academy grounds by mistake and then wander around the facility like tourists is far-fetched. 

 

Maybe Gene was from the east coast and didn't realize how absurd it is to suggest that on a drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco that Harry could sleep through a detour to Colorado---close to 1000 miles.   This had nothing to do with the plots of the location shows, adds no comedy, hence is an unnecessary absurdity.   

[JoeySanJoaquin]

Is "Cozi" Espanol for "cut to shreds'??! Where I am currently we have DISH satellite for television reception and unfortunately, receive none of the "better" channels that feature "vintage" television, like Me-TV, Decades or several others that have cropped up the past few years but we do have Cozi which is currently running "Here's Lucy" and man, is it chopped to smithereens!! They don't even show the credits (written by, directed by) after the main titles nor do they run the end credits showing who played whom -- CRIMINAL!!  I'm a credits reader fanatic and this just drives me nuts!!  The episodes themselves are badly edited as well.  Just overall disappointing and frustrating, whomever's at the helm there....and thank GOD for DVDs!!!  WE ARE SO LUCKY to have her entire catalog on a medium where their intact and UNCUT!!!

 

Still, I happened to watch a later-in-the-run episode I'd DVR'd to watch later, and was curious to note that unlike any/many other HL episodes I could think of, this one -- especially in the first office-based scene, was replete with several pick-up shots, which by this point thanks in large part to La Ball's resistance to doing them and retakes, was practically unheard of by the time this episode was shot...which naturally makes me wonder all the more why and what happened "behind the scenes" that this was deemed necessary. Since it was so rare by this point, I also found it a bit distracting, even MORE distracting than the overly obvious reliance on cue cards!!

 

For those also curious/interested, it was the Season 5 #14 episode, "Lucy and the Group Encounter" which featured guests Kurt Kazner and the indomitable Reta Shaw, and was written by (my least favorite HL writing "duo") Fred Fox and Seaman Jacobs and directed by Coby Ruskin....and BOY was there a LOT of yelling in this episode, which really diminished an otherwise clever premise and what could have been a much more stellar episode, especially say had it been penned by Bob and Madelyn! 

[JoeySanJoaquin]

Lucy and Harry's Italian Bombshell* (S4 #3 OAD September 27, 1971)

When Harry learns that a woman whom he knew many years ago in Italy is coming to see him. He says they vowed to wait for each other. He wants to look good for her so he asks Lucy and Kim to help him lose weight and learn Italian before she arrives.

 

Lucy's Bonus Bounces (S4 #16 OAD December 27, 1971)

Harry takes his psychiatrists advice to give Lucy a raise. Lucy is so shocked by the raise that she thinks he is hiding something and decides to keep a close eye on Harry which leads to paranoia as he tries to get away from those following him.

 

*Contains rare ad-lib by Gale Gordon about saleslady not selling doorknobs and Lucille Ball's subsequent spontaneous break-up, also rare and surprising it remained intact in the scene and not cut/reshot. 

[Neil]

I don't why I got the urge to watch "Lucy Sells Craig to Wayne Newton".  I know later Wayne was a huge draw in Vegas but I don't know what his status was in 1968.  Lucy certainly liked him, using him 3 times, in this episode and in 1965 and 1969-70.  As an episode, there's not much there, so much filler.  Wayne's act takes up the bulk of the episode, with very little in-between.   Lucie/Kim's impersonation of Wayne lipping to Danke Shoen gets spontaneous applause 3 times, although her version of Wayne's choreography is more ass-wiggling than the real thing (thankfully).    Isn't that what all 17 year olds were doing in 1968?  Sitting around listening to Wayne Newton records?  And doing Wayne impersonations?

This is only episode #9.  The kids don't embarrass themselves but are not completely comfortable yet either.  Think how far Lucie Arnaz came between this and episode #144 "Fights the System" where she had the comic chops to carry a whole episode. 

Gary must have liked this one.  The banjo playing and singing of "Robert E Lee" made up the finale of the "CBS Salutes..." segment spotlighting Lucy's musical ability, even though she's neither doing her own singing nor actually playing the banjo!

 

A little of pushy/bossy/crass/clueless Lucy goes a long ways and this one stretches the limit of her character's likability, such an important aspect of her 'Lucy' characters. 

Ever the pro Lucy knows a laugh covers up Wayne's question to her "Is that you best thing?" and asks him to repeat it, knowing that her line needs his first ("It is, if you've heard me sing")

 

Wayne looks better in his GAB-produced intro than I've seen him, but this could have been shot the better part of 10 years ago.  Like a lot of older men, facial plastic surgery may make them look younger but it also makes them look WEIRD.  Wayne's now got really beady eyes and a waxy face that looks like one of those movie star masks for sale on the boulevard that Lucy would use to fool Carolyn Appleby--though by 1968 her vocal range was a full octave below the pre-pubescent sounding Newton. 

[HarryCarter]

Isn't that what all 17 year olds were doing in 1968? Sitting around listening to Wayne Newton records? And doing Wayne impersonations?

There was at least one 17 year old doing that: the real life Lucie Arnaz.